The present invention relates to an edge protector angle piece for insertion between a load to be lifted and a lifting device, such as a chain or a wire cable. The angle piece has two angle arms which, with their respective preferably mutually perpendicular inner faces engage the load. The outer faces of the angle arms form together a continuous cylindrical surface, describing a ring segment in which a groove is formed which is coextensive with the ring segment and which serves to receive the lifting device.
Such angle pieces, disclosed, for example, in British Pat. No. 19,371 to Turner, are used to protect the load to be lifted, having delicate surfaces or edges, against damage by the action of the lifting device. To achieve such protection, the interior faces of the two arms of the angle piece engage the load to be lifted. Due to the surface contact of the two angle arms, the pressure of the lifting device is distributed over a greater area and thus the surfaces or edges of the load are protected. Such angular edge protectors are required particularly when the lifting device is a chain or wire cable which has only point contact or linear contact regions with the load and therefore surface pressures at these regions are very high. This is avoided by use of an edge protector angle piece.
A guide groove extending on the outer faces of the two angle arms in their longitudinal direction prevents the lifting device from slipping off the edge protector.
It is a disadvantage of the known edge protector angle piece disclosed in the above British patent that the inner faces of the two angle arms which contact the load, each have only a web-like configuration so that the load is stressed to a relatively great extent at these essentially linear contact faces. This effect is further augmented by the use of hard materials for the edge protector such as wood, iron, brass or aluminum. Moreover, the guide groove does not have positive guiding properties and thus the edge protector can easily shift on the lifting device. The protective effect of such edge protectors and their reliability is thus a major concern.